The top 1%

In my experience, the top 1% of the people determine the success or failure of most enterprises. Meaning, if you took away the top 1% of the people out of an endeavor, the entire thing would collapse very quickly into rubble. In a small organization (of say 20 people) you are talking about one person at most who holds the key to greatness or futility. A larger organization with 100,000 people could not withstand the best 1000 people being taken away; it would exist in name only less than one year later if it did not quickly replace its talent. The departure of best 3 million Americans (without replacement) would lead to the rapid demise of this country.

The only exceptions to this rule are organizations that are built specifically for high-octane, super-intelligent people: Google, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, KKR, Blackstone, and a handful of think tanks. Every one of these organizations believes that the dumbest guy in the room should still be pretty damn smart compared to society.

I bring this up because the biggest challenge our organization will face in the first couple of years will be the ability to attract the best and brightest talent. That is every organization's biggest challenge; it is not unique to us. John Galt and I are determined to surround ourselves with folks who strive to be the best in everything they do. That sounds really cheesy and trite, but if you are around long enough, you start to realize that this is the rarest type of person, and the most coveted. A handful of top people can handle the workload of hundreds, and more importantly, they generate ideas and thoughts that the masses cannot. Those are worth their weight in gold, and they will be rewarded in kind.